1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for efficiently providing content over a thin client network. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for streaming audio in real time in a thin client terminal server environment that can be used, for example, to provide support for a digital dictation system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Thin client computing, as understood in the art, is a system or network in which terminal services and applications, such as typical desktop applications, are installed and run on a terminal server. Therefore, terminals communicating with the server can provide a desktop environment that gives the appearance that the desktop applications are being run on the individual local terminals, even though those application are installed and run on the terminal server.
That is, when an application is being run on the terminal server and accessed by a user via a local terminal, the information generated by the application is sent to the local terminal and thus displayed on the screen of the local terminal. Furthermore, information pertaining to keyboard input and mouse movements made at the local terminal are sent to the terminal server and acted upon by the application being run at the terminal server. A terminal server typically will allow multiple users and applications to be run at the same time, which is a type of IT infrastructure commonly referred to as “server based computing.”
The exchange of information between the local terminal and terminal server should be efficient enough to give the appearance to a user that the application is being run at the local terminal. However, as can be appreciated by one skilled in the art, networks can experience various degrees of latency, which is the amount of time (typically measured in milliseconds) that is required for data to cross the network between two computers. High degrees of latency can adversely impact application performance, because the user may experience a perceived delay between the time that the keys are struck or the mouse is moved and the time that the text appears or the cursor moves on the screen. Networks can also experience packet loss which refers to the data packets that are sent from the sending computer and fail to arrive at the intended receiving computer. Also, because data is typically divided into many different packets at the sending computer, it is possible that those data packets can arrive in a different order than that in which they were sent or, in other words, arrive “out of sequence,” which can result in errors in the application, the display of information, or both.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system and method for exchanging information between remote terminals and a terminal server in a thin client network that can eliminate or reduce latency, packet loss and out of sequence packet arrivals.